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Keep the prison farms running
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Aug. 11, 2010
The government’s main arguments in favour of closing the farms are lack of benefits and costs to taxpayers. Neither justification holds up to scrutiny… The government has not said what will replace the prison farms. Will these programs cost more, or less? Will they be more effective in reintegrating prisoners into society? What skills will be taught? In addition, replacing the foodstuffs produced on the farms may end up costing the taxpayer more than the cost of running the farms themselves.
Tags: budget, corrections
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Reform EI now
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
August 10, 2010
… as jobs disappeared in the late fall of 2008, killing jobs with higher payroll taxes simply was not in the cards. The government held the line on premiums but, as the economy slowly recovers, payroll taxes will surely rise in the next few years. The issue is whether the EI payroll taxes rather than general revenues should be used to pay for costs unrelated to unemployment. EI premiums, even those paid by the employer, fall on the backs of workers. With maximum contribution limits, payroll taxes represent a greater burden on workers with low and modest incomes.
Tags: economy, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Why libertarians can’t possibly support the census decision
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
August 9, 2010
Yes, there are several examples of countries – especially in Scandinavia – that have abandoned the traditional census. These countries maintain databases that keep track of all interactions between the citizen and the State, so a census is simply redundant… If you’re concerned about issues such as privacy and state coercion, these are not counter-examples that you should be citing… It should now be clear that the sweaty-palmed fanboy libertarians who jumped on the anti-census bandwagon are being played like a cheap vuvezela.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The long-form census is your civic duty
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
August 9, 2010
What does my country insist that I do? Well, it requires me to pay my taxes and respect the law. If called upon for jury duty, it generally requires me to accept that task. And of course, up until now, it has required me to answer some questions at census time. Is this really asking too much of Canadians? … because I do rely on government for a multitude of services, I feel that answering a few questions is not the end of the world. In fact, I insist on it, because I expect my government to make wise decisions based on sound information.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The new Prohibition
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Aug. 7, 2010
There is no… need here to review the already well-documented grotesque criminal culture and social deterioration spawned by the U.S.-led war on drugs — a war the Conservatives are now bringing to the streets of Canada. The enforcement of these new regulations, aimed a low-level providers of services that have willing buyers, will be as effective in curbing genuine criminal activity as the other organized crime measures have been, which is not at all. They are likely to make things worse.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
We need more prisons for statistical crimes
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
August 4, 2010
… we can’t necessarily take those crime statistics at face value is because crime reporting is voluntary, which leads to an array of challenges that can skew the numbers. With the reporting pool self-selecting, some groups may be more likely to report criminal events: the middle-class, for example, or the the family of a murder victim. And those who live in high-crime neighbourhoods, or who are the victim of a minor crime such as j-walking, might not bother to report… That’s why they’re really building all those prisons.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Support for seniors
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
Jul. 31, 2010
While the lion’s share of support for low-income seniors comes from federal programs, most provinces have top-up programs to provide extra support to those receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). The provincial benefits kick in automatically through the tax system, except in Alberta and New Brunswick, where you must apply. Manitoba is unique in offering supplements to those as young as 55. The benefits are usually automatic to those receiving the Old Age Security (OAS)… No central source pulls this information together, so finding the various provincial programs was a bit of a hunt.
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
My prison education
Saturday, July 31st, 2010
July 31, 2010
It had been an interesting experience, from which I developed a much greater practical knowledge than I had ever had before of those who had drawn a short straw from the system; of the realities of street level American race relations; of the pathology of incorrigible criminals; and of the wasted opportunities for the reintegration of many of these people into society… And I had the opportunity to see why the United States has six to twelve times as many incarcerated people as other prosperous democracies, (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom), how the prison industry grew, and successfully sought more prisoners, longer sentences, and maximal possibilities of probation violations and a swift return to custody.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, featured
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
A thin blue line, doing nothing
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Jul. 29, 2010
In the continuing debate over police tactics during the recent G20 summit in Toronto, the focus has been on whether civil liberties were violated in order to keep the peace… the more fundamental question is how the police were unable or unwilling to keep the peace… Is effective police protection a right of citizenship? It is contractually bought and paid for through tax dollars? Or is it a bonus that is to be enjoyed here and there, but not to be expected?
Tags: crime prevention, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Put an end to affirmative action
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Jul. 24, 2010
The Conservatives may have misstepped on the census, but they have it right on affirmative action. This week, Cabinet Ministers Stockwell Day and Jason Kenney announced that the government will review discriminatory affirmative action policies that, for the last quarter-century, have given preferential hiring treatment to women, minorities, aboriginals and the disabled in the civil service. According to Mr. Kenney… “we must ensure that all Canadians have an equal opportunity to work for their government based on merit, regardless of race or ethnicity.”
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
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